Hyderabad: In this era of fingertip banking transactions on smartphones, fraudsters are also devising newer ways to cheat people. With digital payments modes getting common, miscreants are using fake QR code applications that generate bogus messages mimicking the actual payment sent confirmation screen that usually pops up on our phones when we transfer money to someone using the UPI method.
In one such incident, a man tried to cheat owners of money transfer shops and even succeeded in hoodwinking one at Vanasthalipuram in Hyderabad. According to the police, on April 9, a young man came to a money transfer shop near Sushma theatre under Vanasthalipuram Police Station limits. He requested the shop owner to give him Rs 30,000 cash and in return, he would transfer money through a digital payment app.
The shop owner agreed to it and gave him his QR code to transfer the money. The young man scanned the QR code and showed him the confirmation message of money being deducted on his phone. He then asked the shopkeeper to give him Rs 30,000 in cash. An alert shopkeeper, however, refused to pay anything until his bank confirmed that the money was transferred to his account.
The shop owner asked the young man to wait for some time till he gets the message, but the man said that he was in a hurry so asked the owner to give him the cash. The owner still did not give in to his demand following which the restless man asked if he could at least pay him Rs 15,000 cash. Upon this, the shopkeeper realised something was fishy but the young man hurriedly left the shop.
After some time, the young man went to another money transfer shop at NGOs Colony and asked for Rs 30,000 cash. He told the shop owner that he would transfer money through a digital payment app. the shop owner agreed and had given him Rs 30,000 cash. The young man said that he had transferred the money to the shop owner, showed him the bogus money transfer message, and left
Later, when the shop owner checked his account, he found the money had not been credited into his account. The shopkeeper lodged a complaint with the police at Vanasthalipuram Police Station. Based on his complaint, the police registered a case and started the investigation during which they found that many people have been cheated by fake money transfer apps. The police alerted the people not to give cash blindly to anybody claiming they would transfer money.
Read: 2,94,880 fraud cases led to loss of Rs 1347.83 crores in last 20 years: RTI
